YouTube Has Stripped Logan Paul Of All Advertising Following A New Controversy

In a groundbreaking move for YouTube, the video streaming website has stripped content creator Logan Paul's channel of advertisements. The decision followed closely in the footsteps of Paul's latest video, in which he showed himself using a taser on dead animals, and the subsequent wave of outrage from the community.

The announcement was released this morning on an official Twitter channel and read, "In response to Logan Paul's behaviour, we've temporarily suspended all ads on his channel."

It is rare for YouTube to strip a high profile creator of all advertising revenue, however it remains to be seen if Paul's channel will be monetized again further down the line. His channel, Logan Paul Vlogs, is one of the platform's biggest channels with over 16 million subscribers as of this article's publication date.

YouTube also issued a response to The Telegraph and said, "This is not a decision we made lightly, however, we believe he has exhibited a pattern of behaviour in his videos that makes his channel not only unsuitable for advertisers, but also potentially damaging to the broader creator community."

In the video, Paul is shown in his Los Angeles home tasering two dead rats on camera as members of his team watch. After his colleague disposes of them in a bin, he inflicts a taser on the rats a second time. Earlier in the same video, he pulls a dying fish out of a pond and prods it repeatedly as it struggles to breathe.

PETA responded, "Destroying and mocking the bodies of dead animals for shocking video content is never OK."

Paul was recently in headlines for filming an individual who had passed away of suicide in Aokigahara, Japan's infamous suicide forest. While many called for his channel to be suspended, YouTube took a full week to respond to the crisis and removed him from their Google Preferred programme - a special tier of elite channels which form the basis of YouTube's advertising sales package to brands. It also introduced two new policies, one which required high profile creators on their Google Preferred programme to have their videos manually reviewed and appeared to be a direct response to the Paul situation. The other was a more controversial one, which raised the barrier for entry to the YouTube Partner Programme for smaller YouTubers; preventing new talent from monetizing their channels.

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Prior to Paul's latest tasering video, the former Vine star presented an apologetic and self-reflective front to the community to repair his reputation following his Aokigahara visit. He released a mini-documentary surrounding suicide awareness called Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow which trended globally and halted his stream of daily vlogs. He resumed posting just four days ago.

YouTube's new manual review policy was intended to be rolled out in mid-February, however Paul's latest video unfortunately appears to have beat them to the punch. Paul has yet to respond to the suspension, however other high profile creators on the platform have weighed in.

Sean McLoughlin of Jacksepticeye fame responded to YouTube, "It's nice to see you guys putting your foot down and being more transparent. People appreciate that."

YouTube newscaster Philip DeFranco also added on Twitter, "The next step IMO should be the at least temporary suspension of his ability to hit Trending. Controversy/trending has been his biggest channel grower."